Maduro and His Wife Charged With Conspiracy to Commit Torture
A superseding indictment filed in Manhattan federal court adds a count of conspiracy to commit torture against Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, on top of existing drug-trafficking charges. Prosecutors say the conspiracy ran from at least 1999 to 2025 and involved Venezuelan military, intelligence and law enforcement officials. Trial is set for 1 June 2027.
The indictment alleges that one detainee was given electric shocks and asphyxiated after being arrested following a 2018 drone attack the government called an assassination attempt. Three American citizens are named among the alleged victims; one was arrested in January 2025 in a case of mistaken identity, beaten over two days causing permanent injury to an eye, held for about a year, and warned on release not to disclose what had happened. Prosecutors say Mr Maduro was told a detained military officer remained defiant and instructed officials to “squeeze them harder”, suggesting specific methods; Ms Flores is alleged to have been present at some meetings where the treatment of detainees was discussed. Both have pleaded not guilty to the drug charges and have been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since their capture on 3 January, after Donald Trump authorised a military raid in Caracas. The torture count is the legally significant addition, because it reaches conduct inside Venezuela against Venezuelans as well as Americans, and because it sets up a trial in which the evidence will be the testimony of people who were held in those cells.